San Jose’s District 3 special election remains too close to call, as the contest has now become a question of which candidate will join Gabby Chavez-Lopez in a June runoff.
After Thursday’s ballot result release, Matthew Quevedo, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s deputy chief of staff and one of the favorites heading into the special election, has overtaken dark-horse candidate Anthony Tordillos, marking another twist and turn in the race.
While Chavez-Lopez, the executive director of the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, has built a sizable advantage over the field, earning 30% of the vote, Quevedo has received 22.18%, with two votes separating him and Tordillos for second place.
The special election field featured seven candidates vying to replace disgraced former City Councilmember Omar Torres, who resigned from office in November before pleading no contest this week to sex abuse charges involving a minor.
Rounding out the contest were pro tem judge and longtime IBM employee Irene Smith, retired law enforcement officer Adam Duran, retired family counselor Tyrone Wade and knife sharpener salesman Phil Dolan.
The close nature of the race also ensures a runoff will occur on June 24 because no candidate has received more than 50% of the vote.
Although the San Jose City Council opted to let District 3 residents choose their next representative, it appointed Carl Salas in late January to serve in an interim capacity until a winner emerged, meaning his tenure will extend now into the Summer.
Chavez-Lopez has led the race since the release of the first results Tuesday’s evening through Thursday, consistently earning at least 29% of the vote in each of the ballot drops.
“We’re encouraged by the initial results and grateful to the residents of District 3 for their support,” Chavez-Lopez said Wednesday. “While we’re hopeful about moving forward, we know every vote counts and we’re committed to making sure every ballot is counted. The campaign has always been about the people of San Jose, and I’m proud of the coalition we’ve built together.”
Quevedo and Tordillos have now swapped positions multiple times over the past few days. Quevedo held onto a 159-vote advantage Tuesday night before Tordillos erased the deficit to lead by a single vote Wednesday evening.
A post on the county’s website estimated that 38 unprocessed ballots remained as of Thursday morning. The next election results are expected to be posted by 5 p.m. Friday.
The final election results will not be known until at least next week and there could be more twists and turns as the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters will continue to count mail-in ballots until Tuesday so long as they were postmarked by April 8.
The close nature of the race could also lead to a recount, with county policy mandating an automatic review for contests with a margin of victory less than .25% or where that margin is less than 25 total votes.
While the race is still up in the air, Tordillos’ campaign has remained enthusiastic about the results, noting how much grassroots support their candidate has received and despite how political action committees backed by special interest groups and lobbyists have flooded the race with contributions.
“We must count every vote and there is still more to count,” spokesperson Kurt Frewing said. “We’ve crushed the special interests and pundits’ expectations and we look forward to this process playing out.”